ComputerWorld - Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday launched a beta of the new e-mail client designed to give the boot to Vista's four-month-old built-in Windows Mail. Windows Live Mail Beta 2.0, touted by Microsoft three weeks ago as blending features from multiple Microsoft mailers, sports a Vista Aero look and claims faster performance than its predecessor, the now-defunct Windows Live Mail desktop. The program handles POP, IMAP and Windows Live Hotmail accounts, theoretically letting users combine multiple interfaces -- a browser for Hotmail, say, plus the venerable Outlook Express (OE) for POP mail -- within a single window. It runs on both Vista and Windows XP; on the latter platform, it ousts OE.

PC Mag - Imagine not needing a flash card reader any more. The MultiMediaCard Association (MMCA), an open standard memory card organization that promotes mass adoption of storage media for mobile phones and other digital imaging devices, announced a new specification for a multiple-interface memory card on Thursday. The miCARD, as it being called, will measure 12mm x 21mm x 1.95mm and is basically a flash card with a USB interface. According to the MMCA, the storage card is designed to facilitate data exchange between MMC and USB devices and can be used in devices that typically use MMC cards like cameras, smart phones, and PDAs.

Softpedia - Superconductors are a class of materials that display exactly zero electrical resistance and the exclusion of the interior magnetic field (the Meissner effect) at extremely low temperatures, usually below -140 degrees Celsius. They are used in many applications, like MRI medical imaging scanners, levitating trains and power lines. A team of researchers at the University of British Columbia achieved a breakthrough in the field. The most important problem of superconductors is the fact that they can't function at temperatures higher than 100 degrees Celsius below zero. "Up to now, it was unclear whether these materials were metals or insulators," said UBC Physics Prof. Douglas Bonn, adding that the materials are extremely sensitive to contamination - the slightest trace of dirt or impurity can alter their properties completely.

eWeek - There haven't been mass Mac exploits to date, but interest is growing, as evidenced by the quick turnout of exploit code for a recently disclosed vulnerability. Compared with Windows, the Macintosh platform is still largely untouched by vulnerability exploits. But the prompt release of exploit code for a vulnerability detailed in a May 24 set of updates shows that it's catching up fast when it comes to grabbing the attention of exploit writers. "It is very Microsoft. It's something we've grown to expect in Microsoft: The descriptions of patches lead people to write exploits for something that's been patched," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst for the Enderle Group. "It was only a matter of time before that kind of behavior hit [the Mac] platform. People are going after consumers, and they're going after consumers broadly."

TechWorld - MicroNet has launched a 5TB external serial ATA (SATA) desktop drive array which overcomes a 2TB ATA volume limit. It transfers data twice as fast as USB or FireWire-connected products and comes with built-in RAID protection and needs no operating system drivers. The Platinum RAID Pro can have up to 5 SATA drives and utilises the external SATA (eSATA) connection method which has a data cable up to 2m long and a separate power cable for the desktop enclosure. The eSATA connection method was defined because high-capacity SATA drives, capable of transferring data at 150MB/sec in first generation SATA, can swamp USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 ports. These transfer data at burst rates of 33.5 and 36.2MB/sec respectively, thus bottlenecking drive I/O. The eSATA burst rate is 111.3MB/sec.

Madshrimps.be - Some entertainment before the weekend starts; we recently did a giveaway of CPU coolers, but that's the boring part. After we selected the winners we visited them and installed the coolers in their PC, recorded the temperature and noise changes and reported back in the article linked. Just presenting the raw data could be fun, but making it into 2 small movies with a different "theme" song and animation surely makes it less "pure geeky" :)

BBC - Click's Spencer Kelly takes a hands-on look at three gadgets making the news. He tries out a motion-sensitive laptop which is controlled through movement - much like the Nintendo Wii's game controllers. Spencer comes up with a novel solution to an infuriating design quirk in a PDA with a magnetic screen. A phone that has taken LCD screen technology to a new level also grabs his attention.

DailyTech - Efforts that began in December 2006 and continued through February 2007 lead to the discovery of the Processing Key used to encrypt high-definition media with the Advanced Access Content System. The work of a small hacking community created essentially a silver bullet that was able to defeat the copy protection of all HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc media on the market at that time. The Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administration (AACS LA) acknowledged the effectiveness of the hack and began to enact measures to restore the integrity of its technology.

You can discuss this topic further HERE in the OCC Forums - jammin *News Editor*

Engadget - The folks over at Parallels aren't messing around with these updates, as just about four months after unveiling release candidate 2, the harmony-inducing software is just about ready to hit the big three-o. At long last, the new iteration will purportedly support 3D graphics acceleration, giving Mac users the ability to play OpenGL / DirectX-based games in Windows without having to reboot, and it sounds like you'll be seeing improved shared folder performance as well.

CNN - When doctors in a remote African town warned a 20-something pregnant woman she was well past her due date, the Liberian patient agreed to have labor induced. But Dr. Simon Kotlyar wanted to confirm the diagnosis first. So the visiting doctor performed an ultrasound test using a new system -- a machine miniaturized to the size of a laptop computer -- and discovered the Monrovia woman was only 32 weeks pregnant, not 40 weeks as anecdotal evidence had led doctors to believe. "Having that system made a pretty big difference," said Kotlyar, chief resident in the department of emergency medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut. "I told her to go home and come back in a few weeks."

PCWorld - Google 3D Warehouse is a repository of 3D models of all shapes and sizes for use with the company's SketchUp 3D application -- everything from cityscapes to human forms, building products, automobiles, architectural designs and more. Now Photoshop CS3 Extended users can tap into it using Adobe Labs' new Photoshop CS3 Extended Plug-In for Google 3D Warehouse. The plug-in, released for free from the Adobe Labs Web site, enables Photoshop CS3 Extended users to search and download Google 3D Warehouse models without having to open a separate browser window.

Engadget - Nearly a month after Warner Bros. axed advanced screenings in Canada while tagging priacy as the scapegoat, now Canucks are facing another bout with DRM right inside their homes. According to a lengthy list of complaints over at TheGreenButton, it appears that some Canadian cable providers (Rogers and Shaw, namely) are seemingly throwing the broadcast flag onto a questionable amount of content. Essentially, users who are trying to record said programming via their own Windows Vista Media Center setup are receiving all sorts of errors and messages informing them that the material (even on basic cable) they are trying to record is laced with "restrictions set by the broadcaster and / or originator of the content."

CNN - Google Inc. bills the latest twist on its online maps as "Street View," but it looks a bit like "Candid Camera" as you cruise through the panorama of pictures that captured fleeting moments in neighborhoods scattered across the country. In San Francisco, there's a man picking his nose on a street corner, another fellow taking out the trash and another guy scaling the outside of an apartment building, perhaps just for fun or maybe for some more sinister purpose.

Engadget - Sony many be garnering the lion's share of attention these days with its advances in holographic storage, but it's not the only one working in the promising new medium, as evidenced by this latest development from a pair of researchers at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. As New Scientist reports, they're apparently well on their way to creating a rewriteable holographic memory device that can not only be used to store data, but actually be used to manipulate cells and other tiny particles.

PCWorld - A new inexpensive nanoglue that becomes stronger as it heats up could redefine the way computer chips are made and even pave the way for Spiderman-esque web-shooting devices in the near future, according to its creator. Developed by a group of US researchers led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's materials science and engineering professor, Ganapathiraman Ramanath, the new nanoglue is made from commercially available ultrathin glue materials that when heated to extreme temperatures can bond materials that don't usually stick together.

PCWorld - Google is expanding seemingly by the minute, and acquisitions are playing a big role in the search engine leader's quest to rule the technology world. Wednesday Google said it will buy a photo-sharing Web site called Panoramio and confirmed the acquisition of security software vendor GreenBorder Technologies. And just today, Google announced its acquisition of a provider of online RSS feeds called Feedburner. In all, Google has agreed to make at least 11 purchases of companies or technologies in the past year.

c|net - It used to be that music fans believed cryptic messages about Satan or the death of a band member were hidden within rock albums. Nowadays, the secrets buried in digital music are way too easy to find, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The consumer watchdog group, which focuses on the Web, claims Apple has left information belonging to customers of the new iTunes Plus service exposed. Music purchased from iTunes Plus is embedded with unencrypted customer names and e-mail addresses. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

c|net - A corporate shoving match has begun between Hewlett-Packard and Dell following new allegations that HP robbed Dell of trade secrets. Fortune magazine reported this week that it unearthed information that appears to support claims made by Karl Kamb Jr., a former HP vice president. Kamb said in legal documents filed in January that in 2002 HP paid a former Dell executive to snatch trade secrets about Dell's printer business. After the story, a Dell spokesman said HP had yet to respond to requests that the company investigate Kamb's accusations. HP is suing Kamb for allegedly stealing some of its technology.

Daily Tech - Microsoft and Apple leaders speak on each other, commercials, Xbox, iPod and more. Microsoft and Apple Computer are the yin and yang of the computer world. Without either of them, the technology landscape would not be as it is today. At the head of those two very different, but significant companies are equally different and significant individuals: Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. The two pioneers are often at the center of the stage preaching the latest innovations for their respective companies, but rarely do they share the same stage. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs appeared together at this year’s D: All Things Digital conference, an annual gathering coordinated by the Wall Street Journal.

Engadget - Although reports of the Xbox 360 scratching discs have been floating around for a while, the story really got legs a couple months ago when a Dutch TV show called Kassa aired a segment claiming to prove that the 360 damages media. Although Microsoft promised to look into the problem, apparently that's not good enough for Meglena Kuneva, the European Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, who has given Redmond exactly one week to detail how it's handled the bad DVD drive situation in the Netherlands, how widespread the problem is in other markets, and how many complaints have been received in those markets. While the Commissioner says the European Commissions doesn't have the "competencies" to force a recall at this time, she does say that she'll be "more than happy to act" if she finds legal grounds to do so. Ouch. Better get it figured out, boys -- the clock's ticking.

Engadget - ack, you may not have expected this beauty to be available to the masses just yet, but sure enough, your very own customized T4220 is currently awaiting you at the firm's webstore. Five basic configurations are listed, and while you're already aware of most of the hardware details, we'll just reiterate that you can pick up a T7100, T7300, or T7500 Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, up to 100GB in hard drive space, 802.11a/b/g/n, modular dual-layer DVD writer, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, gigabit Ethernet, and a 12.1-inch XGA display just to name the highlights.

ComputerWorld - Every story is ultimately one of conflict. Whereas inner turmoil makes for great operas, in video games, it's whoever has the biggest guns and the evilest laugh. Be it space marauders, wicked warlords or ancient zombies, these villains are known for their insurmountable tenacity, undying determination and megalomaniac personalities. Yet some scoundrels leave more of an impression than others. We've all butted heads with some digital disputant who's driven us to sweaty palms and gritted teeth. Who are your personal nemeses?

eWeek - Sen. Hillary Clinton proposed a nine-point plan to cement U.S. dominance in science, engineering, technology and math with a commitment of resources to the research and development infrastructure.

Wired - Roller coaster connoisseurs tend to dismiss water rides as too slow, too tame, and too wet. But the next generation of splashy tech should make coaster snobs take a closer look. Clever engineering is sending thrill — seekers higher and faster than ever (up to 135 feet and 65 mph), while sophisticated modeling software is enabling gnarly chute and flume designs that won't fling riders to a horrible, horrible death. Here are six slides that will squeeze a scream out of even the most jaded coaster fans.

PC Mag - By 2015, there will be more workers who interact with technology, but they'll be working a whole lot less hours each week, finds a Gartner research report released on May 30. Gartner argues that three of the four traditional pillars of work—the living wage, long-term relationships with loyal employers, and government- or company-provided pensions—have already gone the way of the dinosaurs, leaving only the 40-hour workweek.

InformationWeek - Find sitting on the beach boring? Can't tear yourself away from technology? Here are some great new gadgets that can make your summer fun. This summer, technology is dedicated to the proposition that you can take it with you. From a grill that plays your iPod on the patio to a hardware firewall that works in hotel rooms, there are gadgets galore to help get you there in fine digital style. Computing isn't just about work, either. Increasingly, it's about play, and the current crop of gizmos reflects the reach of technology into your off-duty life. Whether you go to the beach on vacation this summer, or to the ends of the earth, you'll take more digital gadgets than ever before -- cell phones, GPS devices, cameras, toys, and media players.

DigitalTrends - Storage and peripheral vendor LaCie has increased the capacity of its Ethernet Big Disk network attached storage device to 2 TB, offering home and small office users a convenient way to back up or serve data to multiple computers—or just store a heck of a lot of movies, music, video, and other media.

Washington Post - Earlier this year, one animated character in Second Life, a popular online fantasy world, allegedly raped another character. Some Internet bloggers dismissed the simulated attack as nothing more than digital fiction. But police in Belgium, according to newspapers there, opened an investigation into whether a crime had been committed. No one has yet been charged. As recent advances in Internet technology have spurred millions of users to build and explore new digital worlds, the creations have imported not only their users' dreams but also their vices. These alternative realms are testing the long-held notions of what is criminal and whether law enforcement should patrol the digital frontier.

Engadget - We have no idea how widespread the problem is, but there is certainly a group of people trying to raise some hell in their own corner of the internets over some supposed vertical-line issues that later-gen PowerBooks are claimed to experience between 12-24 months into their lives. We understand that not everyone buys a laptop a year like your average (broke-ass) Engadget editor, so if these issues are in fact that common, we hope Apple does see it fit to extend that Display Repair Extension Program to users experiencing this new kind of screen issue.

Engadget - Looks like Warner and the IIPA managed to rack up a minor victory in the Great White North, as new legislation has officially been introduced in Ottawa which would result in the permanent crackdown on camcording in movie theaters. While we don't really hold with Montreal filmmaker Kevin Tierney, who supported the new anti-piracy bill and said, "you can't go to a concert and put a tape recorder on and steal it" (yes, you can -- and many venues and musicians encourage fans to do just that), we also don't necessarily think it's wrong to not want users to make bootleg recordings of movies.

Yahoo! - A group of inventors are suing Microsoft over claims that the software maker hoodwinked them out of the technology behind Microsoft's Ultimate TV digital video recorder system. The inventors, who formed a joint venture company called Intellivision, maintain that Microsoft misled them during negotiations to purchase intellectual property related to interactive television. Bruce Adams, Paul Hoffman, and John Daniels claim Microsoft officials told them that the company wanted their patents for defensive purposes only, and that Microsoft wasn't planning to launch its own DVR system.

Engadget - Take this one with a grain of salt, but we have it from a source that works in television who tells us that Apple's next round of iPhone commercials (three different spots) have been submitted for airtime, and at least one prominently features the magic number: release date on June 29th. (For the record, we've already heard rumors about it being on the 11th, 15th, 20th, and just about every other date in June.)

Engadget - Good news for folks waiting patiently for a DAP that allows them to carry a complete Linux desktop in their pocket, as TurboLinux has announced that its Wizpy device will go on sale to most of the world sometime this month. Users in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, India, and Singapore can expect the final unit to include a 1.7-inch color OLED display, text viewer, FM radio, and play nice with Ogg, MP3, WMA, XviD, MPEG4, and JPEG formats.

Engadget - Confirming something that we had already seen hints of, Intel has announced that it is looking forward to quad core laptops hitting the scene throughout 2008. Mooly Eden, GM of Intel's mobile platform group, said that we won't see these quad cores in business class laptops for a while, even being honest enough to admit that there aren't enough multi-threaded applications out there to justify it. In practically the same breath, PC World mentions that the chip will target high-level gaming laptops, which is cool because gamers will no doubt lap the new chips up: even if gaming is for the moment a very much single-threaded activity.

OverclockersClub - Well last week, we polled the OCC members on what type of speaker configuration they were running. Along the same lines, this week, for OCC Poll #15, we're asking this: Do you use onboard sound? Or have an aftermarket sound card? With so many people running 5.1 setups, it'll be interesting to see who's actually running an aftermarket card

CNN - A 27-year-old man described as one of the world's most prolific spammers was arrested Wednesday, and federal authorities said computer users across the Web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk e-mail. "He's one of the top 10 spammers in the world," said Tim Cranton, a Microsoft Corp. lawyer who is senior director of the company's Worldwide Internet Safety Programs. "He's a huge problem for our customers. This is a very good day."

c|net - Microsoft is introducing an initiative on Monday to promote emerging music acts across its digital properties.
Called Ignition, the program is designed to expose new artists and their music to consumers for an entire month by featuring exclusive content through Microsoft's multiple services, including MSN, Xbox Live and Zune.

GameSpot - Last month New York state Senators Andrew Lanza and Martin Golden promised that they would be introducing legislation that would "crackdown" on violent games. That bill surfaced last week, breezing through the Senate in just four days. Now it moves on to the state Assembly, where it must again be approved before it can go before the governor to be signed into law.

BBC - Apple has confirmed that its much-anticipated iPhone product will launch on 29 June in the US. The date was given in a series of TV adverts broadcast on Sunday, and was later confirmed by a spokesman for the California-based company. The device, which combines the features of a mobile phone and personal digital assistant, will sell for $499 (£251) and $599, depending on configuration. The phone's much-touted feature is a completely touch-sensitive interface.

Engadget - Toshiba Qosmio fans have reason to celebrate with the unveiling of Tosh's skinny SD-L912A HD DVD-RW writer for laptops, a world's first to support rewritable HD DVD media. Unfortunately, we're only talking 1x read/write speeds here, or about 2 hours to fill a 30GB dual-layer disc -- but it's a start. The drives is also capable of writing to HD DVD-R DL and all the DVD and CDROM formats you can throw at it. The 12.7-mm thin drive will be shipping in sample quantities to OEMs in July as they spin up to production capacity in the months that follow.

c|net - Microsoft and Linux distributor Xandros announced on Monday a technical and legal collaboration, the latest step in the software giant's ongoing program to partner with open-source companies. Over the next five years, the two companies said, they will work on improving interoperability between their servers to improve systems management. The pact calls for Microsoft to provide patent covenants for Xandros customers that ensure they are not infringing on Microsoft's intellectual property, according to the companies.

Engadget - Prices on next-gen optical HD players continue to plummet today with Sony's announced price drop on their new BDP-S300 Blu-ray Disc player. At $499 list, it's now priced for $100 less than the Playstation 3 which currently reigns supreme as the cheapest (and noisiest) BD player on the market. In fact, the move might even cannibalize PS3 sales now that BD buffs have a cheaper source for HDMI 1.3 playback from a unit offering a traditional remote control and A/V stylings.

PCWorld - Palm Inc.'s financial future looked a little more secure Monday as private-equity firm Elevation Partners said it will pump US$325 million into the mobile device manufacturer. In recent months, rumors have swirled that Palm would be acquired by either Motorola Inc. or Nokia Corp. as the company faces increasingly aggressive competition in the smartphone market. The recapitalization plan will see Elevation take a 25 percent equity stake in Palm, valuing the company at $8.50 per share, a premium of around 16 percent compared with the stock's performance over the last 10 trading days.

ExtremeTech - In our graphics card reviews, we frequently talk about antialiasing and anisotropic filtering. These are advanced techniques used to improve the image quality of 3D graphics. But what exactly are they, and how do they work? Today, our goal is to give you a basic understand of what AA (antialiasing) and AF (anistropic filtering) are, and why you should care about them. What follows in this article is a primer of sorts. To avoid confusion, we have simplified explanations in several areas and made a few generalizations. We have also chosen to avoid performance benchmarks or comparisons of various AA and AF modes on competing graphics cards. All that stuff is useful, and we'll tackle it in time, but we think it's important that our readers have a basic understanding of the techniques before diving down too deeply into specifics.

Science Daily - University of Utah physicists developed small devices that turn heat into sound and then into electricity. The technology holds promise for changing waste heat into electricity, harnessing solar energy and cooling computers and radars. University of Utah physicist Orest Symko demonstrates how heat can be converted into sound by using a blowtorch to heat a metallic screen inside a plastic tube, which then produces a loud tone, similar to when air is blown into a flute. Symko and his students are developing much smaller devices that not only convert heat to sound, but then use the sound to generate electricity. The devices may be used to cool electronics, harness solar energy in a new way, and conserve energy by changing waste heat into electric power. "We are converting waste heat to electricity in an efficient, simple way by using sound," says Orest Symko, a University of Utah physics professor who leads the effort. "It is a new source of renewable energy from waste heat." Five of Symko's doctoral students recently devised methods to improve the efficiency of acoustic heat-engine devices to turn heat into electricity. They will present their findings on Friday, June 8 during the annual meeting of the Acoustical Society of America at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center hotel. Symko plans to test the devices within a year to produce electricity from waste heat at a military radar facility and at the university's hot-water-generating plant.

NewScientistTech - Imagine being up against a poker player who can calculate the exact odds of a hand being a winner, play it with a straight face, and if necessary bluff with the best of them. Such a player exists, but you won't find him wearing a Stetson or hiding behind a pair of dark glasses. This player lurks within a computer, created by a pair of academics who have succeeded in making a software agent that can bluff just like a human player can.